Neil John Ashton (born 15 January 1985) is an English manager and former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who is currently manager of Cefn Albion. Typically played as

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

, he occasionally acted as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Career

Tranmere Rovers

Neil Ashton started his career with

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ado ...

as a youth player in 2001 and turned professional in 2003, he was part of the senior squad until 2005 making just one league appearance during his time at

Prenton Park Prenton Park is a large outdoor seated association football stadium in Birkenhead, England. It is the home ground of Tranmere Rovers, as well as Liverpool's women and reserves teams. The ground has had several rebuilds, with the most recent o ...

. In the 2004–05 season he was loaned out to

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...

and made 24 appearances.

Shrewsbury Town

At the start of the 2004–05 season, the manager at that time,

Gary Peters Gary Charles Peters Sr. (born December 1, 1958) is an American lawyer, politician, and former military officer serving as the junior United States senator from Michigan since 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the U.S. representativ ...

, bought in Ashton on loan from

to offer competition to left back Trevor Challis. By the end of that season, the deal was turned into a permanent one that saw Ashton make over 130 appearances in all competitions, before his subsequent move to

Macclesfield Town Macclesfield Town Football Club was an English professional association football, football club based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, that was liquidation, wound-up after a High Court of Justice, High Court ruling on 16 September 2020. Initially kno ...

. In January 2008, Ashton joined

on loan for the rest of the 2007–2008 campaign in a bid to find first team football. Ashton made 19 appearances, scoring once in his spell with Macclesfield.

Chester City

In the summer of 2009 Ashton signed for Chester City who had recently been relegated to the

Conference Premier The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profess ...

. However, he was left without a club on 26 February 2010 after Chester were expelled from the Football Conference after breaching five league regulations, then wound up.

Wrexham

After the demise of Chester, Ashton joined the club's fierce rivals

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

on trial playing twice for the reserves, impressing then manager

Dean Saunders Dean Nicholas Saunders (born 21 June 1964) is a Welsh football manager and former professional footballer. As a player, he was a striker in a career which lasted from 1982 until 2001. He played for Liverpool and Aston Villa in the 1990s, and s ...

. He signed for the

Conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...

club ahead of the 2010–2011 campaign. He took the number 3 shirt and was a regular in the side and in his first season with the Dragons Ashton made 42 appearances including playing in both legs of the defeats to

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

in the Conference Play-off semi-finals. In the 2011–12 season, Ashton was part of the Wrexham side that finished second in the league gaining 98 points, but like the previous season they lost in the play-off semi finals to Luton Town. However, as a consolation to Ashton, he earned the club's player of the year award for the season after making 48 appearances including an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

3rd round match against

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

when they lost on penalties after a replay. He scored his first goal for Wrexham from the penalty spot, making it a 5–1 win against Braintree Town in what was virtually the last kick of the regular season. In the 2012–13 season, Ashton stayed at the Racecourse and was still a regular in the Dragons defence. After the departure of regular penalty taker

Jake Speight Jake Carl Speight (born 28 September 1985) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. He now works as a football agent. Starting his career working through the Sheffield United youth team, in 2005 he signed with Scarb ...

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they play in a blue and ...

Ashton took over penalty duties scoring his first in a 2–1 loss to

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

in a pre-season match. He scored his first goals of the season in a game away to

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club are a professional football club in Stockport, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they were renamed Stockport Co ...

with two penalties but due to "over celebrating" he picked up a second yellow card and was sent off. On 6 November 2012 Ashton signed a new 3-year contract with Wrexham which would last until 2015. His next goal came in a 4–2 FA Cup first round loss to

Alfreton Town Alfreton Town Football Club is a football club based in Alfreton, Derbyshire, England. The club are currently members of and play at North Street. History The club was formed in 1959 following the merger of Alfreton Miners Welfare and Alfr ...

. On 8 December 2012 Ashton scored his first goal in open play against

Nuneaton Town Nuneaton Borough Football Club is an English football club that is based in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. The men's 1st team competes in the , the seventh tier of English football. In 1889, Nuneaton St. Nicholas FC was the first team in Nuneaton to ...

before scoring a second in the match from the penalty spot in a memorable 6–1 win. In March 2013 Ashton picked up his first career honour by winning the

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

with Wrexham, Ashton played in every round but missed the final at Wembley due to injury. A month and a half later, Ashton played at Wembley in a Wrexham shirt, in a 2–0 loss to Newport County in the Conference play-off Final. Ashton was released by Wrexham on 14 May 2015.

Barrow

On 8 June 2015, Ashton signed for Barrow for their return to the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

. He made seven appearances for the club.

Southport

The following season he joined

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Irish ...

Cefn Druids

He then moved in 2017 back to playing in Wales, this time joining Cefn Druids in the Welsh Premier League. During his time with the club he played for them in Europe in Europa League qualifying matches.

Llandudno

In September 2020 he joined

Llandudno Llandudno (, ) is a seaside resort, town and community in Conwy County Borough, Wales, located on the Creuddyn peninsula, which protrudes into the Irish Sea. In the 2011 UK census, the community – which includes Gogarth, Penrhyn Bay, Craigsi ...

. The 2020–21 season was cancelled after one cup game due to the coronavirus pandemic. After a full 2021–22 season playing for the club in the

Cymru North The Cymru North is a regional football league in Wales, covering the northern half of the country. It has clubs with semi-professional status and together with the Cymru South, it forms the second tier of the Welsh football league system. The fir ...

he retired to concentrate on coaching and management.

Career honours

Wrexham *

: winners 2012–13, runners-up 2014–15

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ashton, Neil 1985 births Living people Barrow A.F.C. players Cefn Druids A.F.C. players Chester City F.C. players Llandudno F.C. players Macclesfield Town F.C. players Shrewsbury Town F.C. players Southport F.C. players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players Wrexham A.F.C. players Cefn Druids A.F.C. managers Men's association football defenders English men's footballers English Football League players Footballers from Liverpool National League (English football) players Cymru Premier players Cymru North players